Cup triumphs Terry´s purpose

Chelsea captain John Terry said his side’s FA Cup final triumph is ‘what we live for’ after beating Liverpool 2-1 at Wembley on Saturday.

Ramires and Didier Drogba scored in either half before the Blues weathered an Andy Carroll-inspired fightback and the skipper felt that the win helped prove their critics wrong.

“(It’s) fantastic. This is what we live for, what we play football for,” Terry told ITV after the game.

“At times people have slated us a little bit, (saying) ‘we’re too old, we’re past it, we’re not together as a team,’ but I said yesterday: When the chips are down, we come together, we unite when our backs are against the wall, so we did that and we’ve done that superbly (over) the last 16 or 17 games.”

Asked if the cup win boosts interim manager Roberto Di Matteo’s chances of securing the job full-time, the centre-back was cautiously positive.

“We’ve still got one more massive trophy and that’s the Champions League (final on May 19),” he stressed.

“That’s what our targets have been since the day the owner came in. After that it’s down to the board to make their decision.

“We’ve done Robbie a world of good today, he’s been fantastic. We put in a great performance today and it can do him no harm.”

Liverpool felt that they might have had an equaliser when Carroll’s header was ruled to have been saved by Petr Cech just before the ball crossed the whole of the goal line late on, but Terry insisted that it had not gone in.

“No. I spoke honestly in the semi-final (about Juan Mata’s ‘ghost goal’) – that one wasn’t over,” he claimed to ESPN.

“When he rose you think ‘goal’ but a great stop from Petr and a great clearance off the line from Iva (Branislav Ivanovic) as well.

“It was tough (in the second half) but we dug in – that’s what we’re all about, digging in deep, Didier chasing back the last minute, making blocks. Everyone was fantastic.”